Agfa is celebrating a major innovation milestone as its customer The Delta Group completed beta testing of the new SpeedSet Orca – a versatile single-pass water-based digital press that redefines inkjet printing as we know it.
The Delta Group, a London-based visual communications company, made headlines in 2024 when it agreed to become the first company in the world to trial the SpeedSet Orca.
After a successful installation and testing phase, the press is now making daily production runs and will begin shift work imminently – a major milestone in the Orca’s journey to full commercial availability.
Martin Shipp, COO of The Delta Group, commented: “We had high hopes for the new press and we are delighted to see that it has exceeded them. It offers speed, quality and sustainability benefits that are key to our digital transformation.
“The press is so versatile that we can utilize it for a wide variety of applications using different fiber-based substrates. We can run jobs that we would have traditionally run on our offset lines, giving us much more flexibility on the production floor without compromising quality.”
The SpeedSet Orca is a single-pass water-based solution that promises to be the most productive B1 Inkjet press on the market, with top speeds of up to 11,000 B1 sheets per hour. Its flexibility enables it to produce short run jobs more cost-effectively, while offering comparable quality to offset and flexo printing. As a digital solution, make-ready times and printing consumables are eliminated, supporting converters in reducing waste and cutting changeover times between jobs, improving efficiency across the production floor.
Its offset-like quality, wide color gamut, and inline digital primer and varnishing capabilities mean it can be used to complement existing offset and flexo production lines. It can also handle an extensive range of substrates including folding cartons, microflute, and paper, putting it in a class of its own compared to other digital presses on the market.
Martin’s enthusiasm for the new press was matched by Richard Cotterill, Global Sales Manager – Packaging at Agfa’s Digital Printing Solutions division. “I want to thank the team at Delta for their commitment and cooperation,” he said. “Putting the SpeedSet Orca through its paces in the real-world production environment of a market leader like The Delta Group has been a privilege for us. We could not ask for a better proving ground for this pioneering innovation.
“Our friends at Delta have proven the SpeedSet Orca is the most advanced digital press that can meet the needs of today’s converters. But it’s also designed for tomorrow, supporting converters as they expand into new markets with better print quality and a wider range of substrates. SpeedSet Orca is the crest of the digital wave, marking a new era for digital print and packaging.”Agfa’s SpeedSet Orca, its latest inkjet innovation, passes key milestone as it completes field test programme and begins daily operations at The Delta Group
